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Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise organisations and the Police and Crime Commissioners– what this will mean to you

In 2012 major changes will come into force that will have a profound effect on voluntary, community and social enterprise organisations involved in community safety.

In November 2012 elected Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs) will replace police authorities in England and Wales. The PCCs’ responsibilities will include setting local community safety priorities and funding community safety activity to meet those priorities.

There will be changes to existing funding and commissioning structures such that funding avenues for Voluntary, Community and Safety Enterprise (VCSE) organisations working in community safety will change significantly. (Further information on these changes can be found in the Safer Future Communities policy briefing).

If you work in this area you need to know how these changes will affect youand be well prepared to influence PCCs’ local community safety priorities and to access funding, service delivery and partnership opportunities.

Regional briefing events for VCSE organisations working on community safety

These events will explore the opportunities and challenges presented by this new landscape and provide further information about the support available through the Safer Future Communities project.

Weaim to engage with as diverse a range of partners as possible to ensure that the breadth of Home Office community safety issues are properly represented in the new local commissioning landscape If your organisation has an interest in or works to address issues such as crime & reoffending, antisocial behaviour, equalities and diversity, substance misuse, violence against women and girls or youth crime, we want to encourage you to attend.

Safer Future Communities Project

SFC is a partnership project, led by Clinks, which will provide the local VCSE sector with support and advice to establish local VCSE networks to engage with the forthcoming PCCs. We aim to secure more effective working between VCSE organisations, PCCs, Community Safety Partnerships and other statutory agencies that impact upon community safety.

The project seeks to work through VCSE networks in each police force area to support the sector to develop and communicate a convincing case about local community safety needs, how these can be met and how the sector’s work can contribute to doing this.

These events are open to all VCSE organisations working on community safety and statutory stakeholders.

Provisional Programme

11.00 Welcome and introductionsOverview of the Safer Future Communities project, Police and Crime Commissioners and the new commissioning landscape.

11.30 Questions and answers

12.00 Opportunities and challenges of the new landscape

13.00 Lunch and networking

14.00 Facilitated group discussions on the implications of these changes for: